Gareth McCaughan  was inspired to say
>Mike Davis wrote:
>
>> I can't really worry about the distinction. (I was taught that
>> 'sophisticated' could only refer to a person, but language moves on!)
>
>According to SOED5, the meanings are (I'm abbreviating and
>paraphrasing):
>
>  1 Adulterated. Early 17th century.
>  2 Altered from a state of natural simplicity or innocence
>    (refers to, e.g., texts as well as people). Early 17th.
>  3a Falsified; not plain; dishonest. Late 17th.
>  3b (Of a book.) Having the binding altered deceptively.
>    Middle 19th.
>  4a1 Experienced, cultured, worldly, etc. Late 19th.
>  4a2 Appealing to such people. Late 19th.
>  4b Highly developed and complex. Mid-20th.
>
>So I think whoever taught you that the word only refers to
>a person was wrong. Presumably they had sense 4a1 in mind,
>but 4a2 seems to have been around for about as long.

Thanks!  Now you've got me wondering which teacher it was. The English 
teacher who inspired me was Mr D. C. Rieu (son of EV Rieu, who edited 
the Pengiun classics) and who died last year.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article3993977.ece

(It was only reading the obit. that I discovered that he left Warwick 
when I did!)

Somehow, I don't think it was him, though.

Mike
-- 
Michael J Davis

<><
We arrive at the Truth not by agreement
but by open minded disagreement,
while to close our mind is to be disagreeable.
<><